


Triumvirate In the Tower

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, GFY, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-07 18:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses of Pepper, Tony, and Natasha at home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Triumvirate In the Tower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Griddlebone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griddlebone/gifts).



> It was meant to be light and fun, and then Tony invaded with the feels and reality, and it turned into something a bit less light, but hopefully it still works.

There is laughter coming from the home theater. Tony isn't surprised to hear Pepper's laughter, but the other laugh isn't familiar, and he has to slip into the room to see who's watching movies with Pepper. Or really, to confirm who the laughter belongs to, since there's only one other woman who is regularly in this part of the Tower, even with Bruce officially a resident and told he can always bring Betty here to watch movies or whatever else he'd want to do for a date.

And unless JARVIS is playing with the sound system, Natasha really is laughing along with Pepper at the antics of Gru's minions on the screen. Tony twists his lips in a wry smile, leaning against the wall to watch the movie from behind the women. Or, well, watch them watch the movie. It's not often they get a chance to see Natasha laugh and just, well, be. And Tony wants to savor that moment.

Especially since who knows when the next crisis will be that will call out the Avengers, and Natasha will be all efficient badass while Tony quips from inside his armor, where he's safer from the mundane dangers that could - if they can catch her, anyway - kill Natasha. And while Pepper worries from her office or the Tower or the CEO's private jet, because there's no way she'd stay out of the country while Tony and Natasha are in danger.

Tony slips out as the credits start to roll, moving more silently than he normally would, so he doesn't interrupt whatever Pepper and Natasha have planned for the rest of their date-night. Their night to be just the two of them, instead of Pepper and Tony and Natasha - or Pepper and Tony, or Tony and Natasha, or any one of them alone. They work, but those date-nights are part of making it work, as much as the chance for each of them to be alone is part of it.

* * *

Bruce watches as Pepper and Natasha drag Tony - protesting loudly - out of his workshop, a small smile on his face as they vanish around the corner toward the elevators. It's good to see them smiling and laughing, even though it hasn't been long enough since the Chitauri attack for the all the damage to be repaired. Either to the city, or to themselves.

After a long moment, he returns to the research he'd been doing before movement on the other side of the wide windows had caught his attention. It'll be a while before Tony comes back down.

* * *

Pepper has taken Tony to a charity ball that Natasha had briefly considered going to herself, before declining her invitation. Let them have the night together, being the perfect power couple and the darlings of the media's eye. While she spends the evening making use of the small theater to watch her collection of nature documentaries on a large screen.

"Which show would you care to watch tonight, Miss Romanov?" JARVIS had assured her that no one else planned to use the theater tonight, and he has access to the largest library of shows.

"Shark week specials, please." Natasha adds popcorn to the machine, and fills herself a glass with soda before settling into the seat with the best view.

* * *

Clint listens from the ventilation as Natasha works with Pepper and Tony on self-defense. After the mess with the Mandarin, they all want Pepper to be better able to fight off attackers. That Tony will get some needed - according to Natasha - lessons as well is just a bonus.

He grins as he hears a thud, and Tony letting out a woosh of breath. At least it's not Clint being the sparring dummy for Natasha right now. He hopes he isn't her sparring dummy again, because if that happens, he'll personally make Tony's life hell for hurting Natasha.

* * *

Tony and Natasha are curled around each other tightly enough that Pepper isn't quite sure where one ends and the other begins. Needing the reassurance the other is alive, even if they don't do anything else, and Pepper closes the door to the bedroom quietly. She'll join them later, when she doesn't feel like she's shaking apart from the adrenaline she's been operating on for the last few days. It can't have been more than twenty-four hours since the team had been dug out from under a few tons of concrete and steel, but it had taken far too long for her nerves to find them and extract them.

She checks on the others simply because someone ought to - Bruce and Steve are still passed out on the guest room bed, and JARVIS murmurs that Clint has made himself a nest in a juncture of the vents that lets him hear when anyone is awake in either occupied room. Safe, all of them, and she can scrape herself off the ceiling.

Pepper smiles when she sees the tub is already half-full before she arrives in the bathroom, and the air is rich with the smell of lavender and sandalwood. A long soak will be good to help her relax, and she gladly strips off the suit she'd put on this morning - or was it yesterday morning? - and slides into the hot water.

* * *

JARVIS watches as Tony and Natasha shift to draw Pepper between them, all three barely awake, and waits for them to return to sleep before he returns the feed to background status. He reassures the robots in the workshop that Sir will be fine, and will return to the workshop. When, he's not as certain, because it's not just Tony now. There are Pepper and Natasha, and this is in the immediate aftermath of a mission gone wrong.

He would sigh if he had a body to do so, and shake his head. As it is, he just double-checks the security measures of the Tower, and makes sure that there won't be any disturbing the trio until they're ready to emerge from the room again.


End file.
